The poem was inspired by Palanga, one of the oldest settlements by the Baltic sea. Archeological findings/relics remind of culture of Balts tribes and others, from north, that had been engaged in warfare or trade with them. According to Sigitas Geda the tale of Egle The Queen of Grass-snakes could have been originated in Palanga. S. Geda passionately followed mythology, etimology, the olden cultures and ways. This poem in a distinctive manner retells the myth of the creation of the world, using metaphor of the fall and the bang?when order forms from chaos and silence – from noise. The sea embodies/is the chaos,the angel – the creator, the child, the Saturday and the cornfower – the world.

Sigitas Geda is considered to be one of the most important figures of Lithuanian literature. His creative work is a great Lithuanian national cultural value. His voice stood out in front of others, his exceptional relation with Lithuanian culture, ethno genesis, language and religion provoked and gave birth to a cultural field that stood up under the years of Soviet occupation. The poets merit is breaking many stereotypes about poetry and its forms. You can call him one of reformers of poetry led by the generation of Vytautas P. Bložė,Marcelijus Martinaitis and others. Very often it is nearly impossible to translate the poems of S. Geda, for their many contexts and his own multicultural myths. For this reason authors comments on his poetry become another important part of his creative work.

Balticness

Sigitas Geda was a unique poet. He was in constant search for answers to his questions, such as the identity of nation, genesis of language, relations between nations and their cultures, linguistic ties, parallels of man and nature, origins of religion, etc. Lithuanian language is not marinistic. Sigitas Geda gave a lot of his attention to the sea, which he saw as a primordial element, a link between northern tribes, a place, from which many things came or were originated in it (in various manners). Following the Indo-European prehistory he unified the great myths of various nations, archetypes, symbols, manipulated etymology, saw the ancient and the modern history, one and many tribes at the same time, thus making his individual myth. His poetry is multi-plane and polyphonic, significant to whole region of Baltic.

Erika Drungyte

Bibliographic information

From the collection "Mamutų tėvynė", Vilnius: Vaga 1985

All poems by Sigitas Geda are included in the selection “Angelas krintantis Palangoj”, Vilnius 2001.